{"id":72452,"date":"2026-08-15T06:17:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T06:17:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/72452\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T06:17:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T06:17:29","slug":"moreton-bay-homeless-camp-vandalised-as-council-prepares-wyllie-park-free-camping-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/72452\/","title":{"rendered":"Moreton Bay homeless camp vandalised as council prepares Wyllie Park free camping trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

A homeless camp has been vandalised, with rough sleepers left devastated after tents and belongings were destroyed and one woman\u2019s possessions allegedly doused in petrol.<\/p>\n

The Kippa-Ring camp in Moreton Bay, Queensland<\/a>, is home to 53-year-old grandmother Debby Lake, who said she was left stunned after returning to find her tents pulled down, possessions scattered and solar panels smashed.<\/p>\n

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Homeless camp destroyed as council plans new site<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s horrible. I just don\u2019t know what to say. I\u2019m stunned for words, it\u2019s heartbreaking,\u201d Lake told 7NEWS. <\/p>\n

Her daughter Crystal Carling said her mum was reduced to tears when she saw the damage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI looked at mum and her face was just drenched with tears,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"MoretonMoreton Bay residents Debby Lake and her daughter at their encampment following the alleged vandalism. Credit: 7NEWS\"DamageDamage is seen at a homeless encampment in Moreton Bay after tents and belongings were destroyed. Credit: 7NEWS<\/p>\n

Homelessness service Nourish Street said people sleeping rough are being increasingly targeted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not an isolated incident,\u201d organisation\u2019s founder Beau Haywood\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re being targeted just by having things thrown at our tents, you have people driving past screaming things out at you. I mean this is dehumanising enough, we don\u2019t need people to do that to us,\u201d another homeless resident, who does not want to be identified, said.<\/p>\n

The vandalism comes as Moreton Bay Council prepares to trial a dedicated free camping site for rough sleepers at Wyllie Park in Petrie.<\/p>\n

The 12-month trial is expected to begin in coming weeks, with CCTV cameras to be installed and the site patrolled by security.<\/p>\n

City of Moreton Bay said the trial was an attempt to \u201cdo something different\u201d, but stressed it was not a replacement for proper crisis accommodation and supportive housing.<\/p>\n

\"SmashedSmashed solar panels are among the belongings left strewn across the homeless encampment. Credit: 7NEWS<\/p>\n

The proposal has drawn criticism from Housing Minister Sam O\u2019Connor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is certainly not best practice and it is not something that we support,\u201d O\u2019Connor said.<\/p>\n

But Nourish Street backed the trial as a different approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do need to think outside the box, I think it\u2019s worth a try,\u201d Haywood\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a complete 180 from what they did in the past,\u201d he added, referring to a previous council decision to evict homeless campers from a public park, which was later found to have breached the Human Rights Act.<\/p>\n

\"ArchiveArchive footage shows council workers removing belongings from a homeless camp during a previous eviction. Credit: 7NEWS<\/p>\n

Despite the safety measures planned for Wyllie Park, Lake says she feels safer in her current encampment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would rather live here and scare myself every night,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Inside the making of an Aussie ice cream classic<\/p>\n

3 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Shoppers frustrated as Woolies Ooshies run out early<\/p>\n

6 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A homeless camp has been vandalised, with rough sleepers left devastated after tents and belongings were destroyed and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72453,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,7988,1601,152,149,14002,229,230,1072],"class_list":["post-72452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-charity","tag-david-crisafulli","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-politics-election-qld","tag-queensland-news","tag-queensland-police","tag-state-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}